by Michael Howell
Investigation into the extent of the toxic contamination at the S&W Sawmill Facility in Darby is approaching a turning point, according to International Paper (IP) company Remediation Program Manager Janie Smith and officials at the Montana Department of Environmental Quality. It’s been a long time coming. Smith is a newcomer on the project. Her predecessor, who retired at the end of last year, worked on the project for 20 years.
The old sawmill facility became a State Superfund Site in July 1991 under the Montana Comprehensive Environmental Cleanup and Responsibility Act (CECRA), the state’s Superfund law, and not under the federal Superfund program (CECRA). But investigations and treatability studies at the facility have actually been ongoing since 1987. Although International Paper was not involved in the creation of the contamination problem, as the current owner of the property it has been designated as the lead liable party responsible for the investigation and cleanup efforts.
Sign on fence of property belonging to International Paper Company. Photo courtesy Randy Maxwell.
As a result of a lawsuit, a Stipulated Agreement was reached in May, 2001, which allocated the percentage share of liability for each potentially liable person (PLP). This allocation was conducted under the Controlled Allocation of Liability Act (CALA), which is a voluntary process that allows PLPs to petition for an allocation of liability as an alternative to the strict, joint and several liability provisions included in the Montana State Superfund Law, the Comprehensive Environmental Cleanup and Responsibility Act (CECRA). Since CECRA cleanups typically involve historical contamination, liable persons often include entities that are bankrupt or defunct and not affiliated with any viable person by stock ownership. The share of cleanup costs for which these bankrupt or defunct persons are responsible is the orphan share. DEQ represents the interests of the orphan share.
The percentage share of liability for each person, according to the 2001 settlement, was as follows:
• Darby Lumber, Inc.: 17%
• Spigot Resources: 2%
• Forest Tech, LLC: 2%
• Burlington Northern & Santa Fe Railway Company (BNSF): 1%
• International Paper Company: 39%
• Orphan Share: 39%
Because Darby Lumber and Forrest Tech are now defunct companies, their shares are now part of the orphan share, bringing the orphan share total up to 58%.
As part of the settlement agreement, International Paper Company agreed to bear the cost of completing remediation at the facility and pay for the orphan share prior to requesting reimbursement from the orphan share fund.
The principal contaminants at the site include chlorophenols (primarily pentachlorophenol [PCP]), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, petroleum hydrocarbons, and dioxins/furans. According to DEQ State Superfund Site Section Supervisor Mariah Bucy, dioxins/furans are considered toxic even in trace amounts.
Although investigation of the extent of the contamination continues up to today in preparation for doing a Feasibility Study for remediation work, some “interim” remedial work by IP has already been done. It started in the early 2000’s with the removal of some buildings from the facility site. According to Smith, in 2021-2022 the company excavated about 15,000 tons of soil from a portion of the mill property, and then another 1,000 or so tons from the Waddell Ditch. The contaminated soil was hauled to the certified and licensed land fill in Missoula.
According to DEQ Environmental Scientist Robert Roll, some contaminated soil in the area was also removed to reduce the contamination to levels acceptable for commercial use to accommodate a parking lot for the rodeo grounds and a new restaurant in the vicinity.
As investigation into the extent of the contamination progressed, IP has been purchasing properties where sampling has occurred. According to Roll, after sampling in 2010 on the Chaney property immediately across the street, they saw exceedances of DEQ standards for ground water and EPA limits for drinking water. He said IP immediately provided Chaney with bottled water and DEQ required IP to provide him a source of uncontaminated water by digging a deeper well.
Contaminated ground water plume delineation 2018. Map courtesy DEQ, from report by International Paper Company.
As a result, DEQ also required looking a little further out for more contamination. In 2011, three more test wells were installed on the Chaney property and the neighboring property owned by Christine Hammer. In 2014, IP bought both properties. According to Smith, the purchase was made in order to make any remediation work easier for the company.
DEQ then required IP to extend the sampling further out and in 2015 two more test wells were added closer to the Tiedt-Nicholson Ditch.
It’s around this time that Randy Maxwell, one of the owners of the Waddell Ditch, began beating a loud drum over his concern about potential contamination in both the Waddell Ditch and the Teidt-Nicholson Ditch with an emphasis on the potential interaction of ground water and surface water in the area.
According to Roll, in 2018 and 2019 they started looking at the Waddell Ditch which they knew was impacted by run-off from the contaminated area and as a result they required IP to do more investigations into the ditches and at the same time more monitoring wells were put in a little further south of IP properties on the east side of Highway. Four more test wells were installed, two between the Tiedt-Nicholson Ditch and the Bitterroot River, and two more on the edge of IP’s newly acquired properties.
Testing of ditches and ground water continued and in 2022 a test well was installed on the Darby Distribution property close to a pond and in 2023 two more wells were installed on the property.
In 2024 another well was installed close to a neighboring property belonging to the Ellises. The Ellises sold their property to IP this year.
Contaminated ground water plume delineation 2024. Map courtesy DEQ, from report by International Paper Company.
According to Roll, the latest data from the testing has shifted their conceptual picture of the contaminated groundwater plume significantly. He said their opinion early on was that the plume was headed north-easterly towards the river, but subsequent data has delineated a plume stretching northward parallel to the river.
As a result they have extended the investigation this year into Hatch Waste Ditch and properties to the north on the east side of the Highway. That data will not be available for another month or so.
But in the meantime, Roll said, “We feel good with the data that we have from the Tiedt-Nicholson Ditch and Overturf Ditch that we are seeing the plume move toward the north and that the GW is following that pathway, so we had IP do this extended investigation into the properties along the Hatch Waste Ditch to the north… We are thinking that this will be the culmination that will allow IP to finally continue on with a Feasibility Study.”
Smith agreed, saying, “We have a good idea, I think, that the ground water is pretty well delineated, and we are now looking at surface water. I think the idea is now that after the July sampling we will have everything we need to move forward and put a pin in the site characterization and move forward with the feasibility study. We have just completed that investigation but haven’t gotten the results back yet.”
Local landowner Maxwell, who has been pushing DEQ for decades to get a full and complete picture of the contamination, doesn’t think the testing should stop where the Hatch Waste Ditch ends. He said the Bitterroot River is just one more property away. He said for over a decade he has pushed a reluctant DEQ to expand their testing and each step of the way IP has bought up contaminated property.
Latest study on Hatch Waste Ditch. Map courtesy DEQ, from report by International Paper Company.
“The problem area keeps expanding every time they check a little further,” said Maxwell. “They don’t have far to go now before they reach the river. Why don’t they just go ahead and check all the way to the river? If they did, I think they might find it is already there.”
Although they have not tracked the source of the contamination, Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks has found enough dioxins/furans in fish tissue to place the Bitterroot River on its Montana Sport Fish Cnsumption Guidelines advisory page for dioxin-furan contamination. They advise people not to eat any Northern pike over 26 inches in length and limited amounts of smaller pike and Rainbow trout fish down to 14-inch pike and 10-inch Rainbows.
According to FWP fisheries biologist Trevor Selch, the fish sampled were from halfway up the river but downstream of Darby and Hamilton.
“We did just get some new data that we are trying to get qualified, and we might be able to get it differentiated within the river a little bit more in the future,” said Selch. “But for right now it’s just for the entire Bitterroot River.”